In a musical landscape brimming with bands jumping on the tech wagon, Mycelia’s drive to deviate has paid off. The amalgam of death metal, quasi-reggae rhythms and rave-inducing cyber beats pushes them towards The Haarp Machine and The Dillinger Escape Plan while maintaining a hint of innovation.
If this is a concept album, the band haven’t told us, but there’s a feeling we’re being taken on journey – one that begins in proggy death metal, stops off for a spot of Algorithm club-stepping and ends on a distinctly BTBAM-style three-part culmination crammed full of dizzying riffs, tidy beats and cinematic, piano-led instrumentals.
You can’t deny Mycelia’s ambition but with so much going on, it’s hard to determine what this album’s foreground feature is. The ode to the capabilities of today’s progressive death metal bands is a worthy feat but there’s a difference between being crossover (Hacktivist), a genius of diversity (BTBAM) and just lumping in as much as you can and then hoping for the best.
